Insulin resistancesomething for non diabetics to consider!
My dad suffered from insulin resistance, for a number of years, before he was finally diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. To tell you the full story I would have to tell you about insulin and insulin resistance. Insulin is a necessary protein hormone produced by the beta cell of the pancreas in the islets of langerhans - they are like tiny island in the pancreas. This hormone is vital to help the body convert glucose (or sugar) from the food we eat into energy – to fuel the body. The higher the level of sugar the more insulin will be produced to counteract the increased level of sugar and bring to down to with normal range. Our bodies need energy all the time to function properly. Without the insulin hormone our body cannot use the sugar circulating in the blood. When there is excess sugar in the blood the insulin hormone gets rid of the sugar by enabling the cells and muscle tissue to use it. If the blood glucose levels are still high the remainder of the glucose will be stored in the liver or within fat tissues – especially around the waist. No wonder people who suffer from insulin resistance tend to be overweight or obese. Now imagine what it is like in the body without the insulin hormone – the muscle tissue and cells would simply not respond to the high levels of glucose in the blood. Consider insulin to be like the gate keepers they decide if sugar goes into the cells or not. If the insulin hormone is not available to open the cells then no glucose can get in. The cells or muscle tissues would have nothing to be converted into energy and would starve. No insulin no energy as simple as that. With insulin resistance the body actually produces insulin but as my dad found out his insulin cannot open the door for the glucose to get into the cells. There us a vast quantity of insulin roaming in the blood stream but it is unable to assist the body of in its energy conversion process because it is not working properly. Insulin resistance is a funny thing as was explained to my dad. When the cell doors do not open to accept the excess glucose circulating in our blood streams, our brains will send a signal to our pancreas, to release even more of the hormone. This is simply because the brain thinks that the pancreas did not get the message in the first place. As a result even more unusable insulin is produced in attempts to jolt the cells to accept the sugar floating around in the blood stream. Insulin resistance could lead to the development of type two diabetes mellitus if you are not careful. This is exactly the way how my dad developed and was diagnosed with diabetes. My dad doctor told him that if the condition was discovered early then lots could have been done to prevent the onset of diabetes mellitus type 2. He said that simple changes to lifestyle could have made all the difference. My dad was informed of this study which was done published by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to prove the point.The study was called the diabetes prevention program. These were the findings: Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP)Results The DPP’s results indicate that millions of high-risk people can delay or avoid developing type 2 diabetes by losing weight through regular physical activity and a diet low in fat and calories. Weight loss and physical activity lower the risk of diabetes by improving the body’s ability to use insulin and process glucose. The DPP also suggests that metformin can help delay the onset of diabetes. Participants in the lifestyle intervention group—those receiving intensive individual counseling and motivational support on effective diet, exercise, and behavior modification—reduced their risk of developing diabetes by 58 percent. This finding was true across all participating ethnic groups and for both men and women. Lifestyle changes worked particularly well for participants aged 60 and older, reducing their risk by 71 percent. About 5 percent of the lifestyle intervention group developed diabetes each year during the study period, compared with 11 percent of those in the placebo group. Participants taking metformin reduced their risk of developing diabetes by 31 percent. Metformin was effective for both men and women, but it was least effective in people aged 45 and older. Metformin was most effective in people 25 to 44 years old and in those with a body mass index of 35 or higher, meaning they were at least 60 pounds overweight. About 7.8 percent of the metformin group developed diabetes each year during the study, compared with 11 percent of the group receiving the placebo.
|
